Competition Law - The Regions
What the Team is Known For
The competition team at DWF is spread across various regional offices across the North of England. It is renowned for its strong state aid practice, as well as its knowledge of the new UK subsidy control regime. DWF regularly represents funding organisations such as local authorities in the North and public sector bodies across the regions, as well as grant recipients. It also assists with merger clearance matters and anti-competitive behaviour investigations.
Strengths
"The team shows real attention to detail, keeping clients informed without prompting."
"DWF has been presented with a number of complex schemes for consideration, in all instances its advice has been second to none."
"The people on the team are very pragmatic in their approach, knowledgeable and problem-solving rather than creating further complications."
Work Highlights
The group advised several successful bidders in the second and third rounds of the UK Government's £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund.
Notable Practitioners
Jonathan Branton heads the competition department at DWF and splits his time between Leeds and Ireland. He has a market-leading reputation for his expertise on state aid and subsidy control. He acts on an impressive range of matters, including investigations into allegations of anti-competitive behaviour and merger control filings to the CMA. "The landscape is evolving but Jonathan Branton has been really helpful in drawing comparisons between the regimes and has steered us quite well. I am very happy." "Jonathan Branton has got great knowledge across the competition, procurement and subsidy space."
Based in Newcastle, Alexander Rose advises on compliance with state aid and subsidy control rules for public funding projects. He regularly acts for both grant awarding organisations and recipients. "Alexander Rose's advice is streets ahead of the competition, in terms of both quality and value. His friendly and professional approach makes working with him a genuine pleasure." "He has left our company with so much knowledge that we're now a better organisation, and can pass this knowledge on. He takes time to understand what we need. He has helped us learn and grow." "Alexander Rose has excellent knowledge of subsidies. He always goes the extra mile."
